Premier Eye Care in Indonesia: The Jakarta Eye Center
Tjahjono D. Gondhowiardjo, MD, will be the Director of Corporate Development as well as Education at Jakarta Eye Center (PT Nitrasanata Dharma), practicing since 1992 after completing his PhD via the University of Amsterdam. Dr. Tjahjono has played a major role inside development as well as progress of Indonesian ophthalmology within the last decade; serving as the Head of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Medical Faculty of University of Indonesia-Cipto Mangunkusumo National Hospital (1997-2004); President of the Indonesian Ophthalmologist Association (2003-2010); Chairman of the Indonesian Committee of Prevention of Blindness (2004-2007); as well as Vice Chairman/Acting Chairman of Indonesian Eye Bank (2005-2010). We meet to discuss eye health in Indonesia.
Can you please tell us when Jakarta Eye Center (JEC) was established as well as for what reason?
We started out as the Klinik Mata Jakarta (Jakarta Eye Clinic), which was established on 1 February 1984 by the late Dr. Djoko Sarwono, Dr. Darwan Purba, the late Professor Istiantoro as well as Dr. Bondan Haryono. The clinic grew as well as transformed into an eye hospital (Jakarta Eye Center) in 1992. which will be the vision of our founders to possess proven cutting-edge technologies (diagnostic as well as intervention instruments) to provide the best eye care for our patients. Our founders had a vision which all ophthalmologists working in our hospitals should also become shareholders as well as be willing to work hard in order to maintain the high standards of eye care, which could make our institution stand the tests of time.
What services in particular do you provide which differentiate JEC via additional eye specialist clinics?
via the commencement of the Eye Center we decided to be an institution which would likely deliver comprehensive sub-specialist eye care services; therefore any ophthalmologist in our hospitals must have had sub-fellowships (mostly abroad) as well as be competent in a specific knowledge as well as skill. Up to at This specific point, many of us are actually the prominent persons in our fields amongst the Indonesian Ophthalmologist Society, ASEAN or Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology peer groups. Our leading expertise, which will be complementary to our intentions in possessing the most current technologies, make us pioneers in many aspects in eye intervention services in Indonesia, such as vitrectomy, phacoemulsification cataract surgery, as well as bladeless cataract surgery, refractive surgery procedures (photorefractive keratectomy, LASIK), as well as children’s eye care.
Our passion to develop our professions to reach the global level will be not merely for ourselves; we do disseminate as well as share with our colleagues by conducting the first nationwide fellowship programme in 1997, a biannual JEC International Meeting inviting many world-class speakers. Moreover, through our success, we are inspiring our colleagues in many others cities to build as well as develop eye clinics or hospitals.
We are the founding members of the ASEAN Association of Eye Hospitals (AAEH) as well as active members of the globe Association of Eye Hospitals (WAEH). Our icon hospital, JEC at Kedoya, will be the first as well as only Indonesian Eye Hospital which will be accredited by the Joint Commission International – a US-based independent international hospital accreditation institution. Both JEC at Menteng as well as JEC at Kedoya develop the highest levels of Hospital Accreditation (KARS) in Indonesia.
What will be the competition like for eye specialist hospitals in Jakarta?
One of our missions will be delivering internationally recognized clinical standards in patients care in order to be competitive inside coming ASEAN market, thus we always believe which our real competitors are Eye Clinics or Hospitals via neighbouring countries. Currently, we closely compare many aspects of clinical as well as management indicators either within AAEH as well as/or WAEH as well as are very proud which in many aspects, we are above average in most indicators. We are seeing additional national eye clinics or hospitals as our sparring partners rather than as our competitors. In fact, we often collaborate with them to raise the level of Indonesian ophthalmology or eye service standards.
What eye diseases do you treat most often here in Indonesia?
Both JEC Menteng as well as JEC Kedoya are tertiary eye centres, which means which we can handle most eye problems here. While the newly opened JEC Cibubur will be up-to-date with diagnostic equipment as well as office intervention devices, we can only do surgery under topical or local anaesthesia.
The most common eye diseases which we see are refraction errors either in children or adults, ocular surface infections, as well as ageing or degenerative diseases such as cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, as well as glaucoma. The highest-ranking in intervention will be cataract surgery, followed by LASIK, vitreo-retinal, glaucoma as well as oculo-plastic surgeries, as well as strabismus (squint) surgeries. We are the leading centre in many methods of corneal transplantations in Indonesia.
In your expert opinion, what will be the biggest health problem when which comes to eyesight in Indonesia? will be which malnutrition?
Based on the Indonesian actual as well as projected population pyramids, cataracts as well as many additional degenerative problems will still be the main issues, today as well as inside future. Like additional developing countries, our heavily carbohydrate-based diets as well as unhealthy lifestyles, diabetic retinopathy as well as age-related macular degeneration are predicted to be the main problems.
Does the eye care industry hold Great business prospects in Indonesia? will be This specific industry expanding?
Based on the demographic pyramid, the projected national as well as regional economic growth, as well as the health expenditure forecast, we strongly believe which the health industry, as a human basic need, will continuously grow in Indonesia.
What do people normally expect when they seek quality eye care?
Nowadays, to provide quality eye care, you must develop the most up-to-do technology as well as equipment, implement best practice standards, as well as deliver effective as well as timely services in a clean as well as convenient facility. However, the public’s perception of eye health will be split into those who take which for granted as well as those who are very scared about their visual problems; Australian-based surveys indicate which cancer as well as blindness are the most frightening health problems.
Thus, we do believe which our patients need not only to be cured, yet need anxiety relief as well. For these reasons, we try to deliver comprehensive as well as uncompromised care which has a personalized approach. Moreover, in our hospitals our patients will have an opportunity to learn as well as understand many aspects of eye problems delivered by our Patient Education Officers, as well as we do wish which our patients will have a memorable experience when seeing or conducting measurement procedures or even surgical interventions such as LASIK. as well as lastly, we try hard to do our best to deliver value-based services.
Thank you, Dr. Tjahjono. For more information, please visit www.jec.co.id
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Premier Eye Care in Indonesia: The Jakarta Eye Center
Premier Eye Care in Indonesia: The Jakarta Eye Center